Singing with a Sword

The following is the main text of the novel "{?$article_title?}" ({?$jieqi_title?}) provided by {?$jieqi_sitename?}. Please enjoy! The night she returned from the Vanguard Hall, Yi Ranxiao first went to Zhong Bugui's grave to tell her elder brother the news, and then returned to the Divine Wind Hall to hold a victory celebration banquet. That night, the entire Divine Wind Hall was in a frenzy, especially the senior disciples, who were truly moved to tears. For so many years, the Divine Wind Hall had finally escaped its fate as the bottom-ranked branch!

"Master! Did you see that? Your Divine Wind Hall is finally no longer in last place!" Fatty Xu Chu hadn't even had a few sips of wine before he was already drunk, and he was now howling at the sky.

Yi Ranxiao's heart stirred. The news of defeating the Vanguard Hall had probably reached the Cliff of Contemplation by now, but Yi Ranxiao preferred to go to the Cliff of Contemplation herself and tell her master the news in person.

……

……

The three upper halls of the sect are filled with many outstanding elders and elite disciples. Most of these people hold important positions in the sect. For example, Yu Shengmo, the hall master of Qingyun Hall, not only oversees the sect's pill refining but also serves as the sect's vice sect master; another example is Nangong Qin, the senior sister of Feifeng Hall, who is in charge of the sect's logistics.

These high-ranking figures were only surprised for a moment by the Divine Wind Hall's comeback before turning their attention to the sect's major affairs—the sect's library had been burglarized recently!

Ever since the last time a thief broke into the sect and was seriously injured by Shen Fanba and escaped, it seems that the library has never been quiet. Every once in a while, secret manuals will disappear without a trace.

Therefore, the sect leader Xiang Tiannan specifically instructed Shen Fanba to investigate the matter.

“Master, I believe this little thief must be someone from within the sect!” After days of investigation yielded no results, Wen Erya said to Shen Fanba, “We have been searching outside the sect all this time, which is why we have found nothing.”

Wen Erya's appearance is like that of a refined young master from a noble family who is so elegant that he doesn't know how to cultivate. He is well-read and knowledgeable, but his cultivation level is astonishingly strong. He has already reached the Nightfall Realm! He is the number one among the younger generation of the sect! In addition to his cultivation level, Wen Erya is also very intelligent and good at analysis, which is why he made these remarks.

Shen Fanba nodded and said, "That's right, I had the same thought. We've been investigating outside the sect for a while, which is why we couldn't find the thief. But, disciple, who do you think is the most suspicious person inside the sect?"

Shen Fanba was a giant man nearly two meters tall. His appearance was the opposite of Wen Erya's; he looked like a burly, barbarian, but he was also very meticulous.

Wen Erya thought for a moment, "That person was able to escape even after being hit by Master, which clearly shows that he is also very strong! Based on this alone, we can narrow down the suspects to ten people!"

Wen Erya paused for a moment, mentally listing the ten names, before saying loudly, "These ten people are all slightly lower in cultivation than Master, but not by much! For example, Huangfu Bei, the patriarch of the Huangfu family, Yu Shengmo, the deputy sect leader, and Huang Xiaoling, the hall master of the Flying Phoenix Hall..."

Shen Fanba interrupted him, saying, "Just state your main suspect!" Wen Erya hurriedly replied, "To be honest, Master, I suspect that thief is Xu Jingyi!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Fanba couldn't help but laugh and praised, "Indeed, you are my good disciple! Just as I thought! In terms of strength, there are indeed about ten people in the sect who are slightly weaker than me, but in terms of motive, they have no reason to do so, except for Xu Jingyi!"

A ruthless glint flashed in Shen Fanba's eyes as he continued, "Over the years, because Xu Jingyi opposed that plan, I constantly attacked him, causing his Shenfeng Hall to decline, even driving Zhong Bugui to his death, and finally imprisoning him on the Cliff of Repentance. Although he is weak, he must harbor resentment! He hates me, he hates the sect leader, and even hates the sect! Therefore, he wants revenge!"

"But he was a weak man. He didn't dare to retaliate directly, and he didn't dare to kill the sect's disciples, so he could only retaliate secretly! And the best way to secretly retaliate against a sect was to make the sect's core secret manual public to the world! So that all cultivators could practice it! So, he had the idea of ​​stealing and secretly sneaked into the library to steal the secret manuals in the library! Fortunately, he didn't steal the sect's real core cultivation method! Otherwise, our sect would be in trouble."

As Shen Fanba spoke, Wen Erya nodded repeatedly, agreeing with her master's words.

"Disciple, tomorrow you will take men to the Cliff of Contemplation and search Xu Jingyi's residence!"

Wen Erya hesitated for a moment, then said, "But Master, if we really find the lost manual with Xu Jingyi, won't Xu Jingyi... won't he get angry and kill me?"

Shen Fanba laughed and said, "Disciple, you're overthinking it! Don't I know Xu Jingyi's character? He's a coward! He doesn't have the guts to kill a disciple of the sect!"

Wen Erya thought for a moment before nodding. Shen Fanba continued, "By the way, I heard that Xu Jingyi's Shenfeng Hall recently defeated the Xianfeng Hall?"

Wen Erya said, "That's right, they did win the hall battle, and they swept the Vanguard Hall 3-0." Shen Fanba frowned and muttered to himself, "It doesn't make sense! Although the Vanguard Hall is second to last, its strength should not be underestimated. How could the likes of the Divine Wind Hall possibly win? It doesn't make sense..."

Wen Erya said, "Master, I heard that Yiran Xiao became stronger in a short period of time, and then recruited Huangfu Cheng, the number one genius of the Huangfu family, into his ranks. Later, he found another expert, which is why he was able to defeat the Vanguard Hall."

Shen Fanba gave an "oh" and said with interest, "Yiran Xiao has become stronger in a short time? Oh, it seems that kid is taking banned drugs again."

Wen Erya said, "However, according to the people of Jianling City, it is said that Yuanshi Tianzun bestowed magical power upon Yiran Xiao, making him stronger. But I think this is a rumor."

Shen Fanba laughed, "The Heavenly Venerable bestowed upon Yiran Xiao magic power? Hmph, absurd! This kid must have taken some forbidden drug and is using this method of cutting off flesh to heal wounds to improve his cultivation! Alright, this kind of pushover is not worth our attention. Disciple, go back and prepare, we will go to the Cliff of Contemplation tomorrow."

Before this, Yi Ranxiao had already left Jianling City alone and headed to the main hall. Because Xu Jingyi was under house arrest, not too many people could visit him, at most two, as was the sect's rule. Xu Chujian and the others were all coming along, and Yi Ranxiao couldn't decide, so she chose to come alone. However, to Yi Ranxiao's dismay, Dingding didn't come either. That lazy monkey was always glued to Xiao An'an, having so much fun he forgot all about home.

The sect's main hall is located in Ruyang City, the central city of Qingzhou. Ruyang City is south of Jianling City, and the two are quite far apart. Yi Ranxiao traveled at a leisurely pace for a whole day, but had only covered less than half the distance.

That evening, he stopped to rest in a place called Xiaohu Town. Xiaohu Town was a small town, and naturally, it had all the necessary inns. Yi Ranxiao casually found one and took out his waist token from his storage bag. This waist token was issued by the sect, with the characters "宗" (Sect) and "门" (Member) engraved on the front and back respectively, carrying a special aura and highlighting the identity of a sect disciple.

Disciples of the sect receive discounts on accommodations within Qingzhou, which is why Yiran Xiao took out her waist token and booked a room at almost half price.

Not long after entering the room, Yi Ranxiao began cultivating. He had used up the Thunder Ball during the battle, and now only ordinary Yuan Power remained in his dantian. Although this Yuan Power still contained lightning attributes, without the Thunder Ball, he always felt that his dantian was very empty.

Yi Ranxiao looked out the window at the night sky. It was winter now, and there were hardly any thunderstorms. However, Ruyang City, where she was going, was located in the south. Perhaps when she got there, she would encounter a thunderstorm, and then she could absorb the heavenly lightning and condense a lightning ball.

At this moment, Yi Ranxiao practiced the Divine Thunder Sword Technique for a while, and sure enough, its power was far less than before. The Divine Thunder Sword Technique was the third step of the Divine Thunder Forbidden Scripture. Without the foundation of the first two steps, that is, without the support of the Thunder Orb, the power of the sword technique would be greatly reduced. It seems that he can only practice the Divine Thunder Sword Technique after condensing the Thunder Orb.

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Yi Ranxiao went to open the door, only to see a familiar-looking young man standing outside. She seemed to have seen him somewhere before, but couldn't quite place him. (Sorry for the late post.)